once again, i must salute

those that went before me.

from bust magazine

N’awlins Ladies, We Salute You!

Tomorrow, September 25, the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the day a group of ladies infiltrated their men-only bar, the Sazerac, and demanded a drink. Previous to the 1949 ‘’Storming of the Sazerac,'’ women were only allowed to enter the boy’s club to partake in Mardi Gras activities. Ever since that day, women have been admitted on the same basis as men (well, supposedly)........

Photo courtesy the Roosevelt Hotel.

this is really quite good

funny yet kick assssssssssssssssssssss



(ht: feministing)

we knew this happened

i don't think we knew to what extent. i also am shocked NOTHING has been done. although i shouldn't be shocked. next to nothing has been done (by the government) to help MOST of the people effected by katrina. OUR people, OUR country. if you don't think the rate of help to people of natural disasters is directly proportionate to their wealth and/or their color, you're just kidding yourself.

Katrina's Hidden Race War

By A.C. Thompson

The way Donnell Herrington tells it, there was no warning. One second he was trudging through the heat. The next he was lying prostrate on the pavement, his life spilling out of a hole in his throat, his body racked with pain, his vision blurred and distorted.

• 
  

  
  

It was September 1, 2005, some three days after Hurricane Katrina crashed into New Orleans, and somebody had just blasted Herrington, who is African-American, with a shotgun. "I just hit the ground. I didn't even know what happened," recalls Herrington, a burly 32-year-old with a soft drawl.

The sudden eruption of gunfire horrified Herrington's companions--his cousin Marcel Alexander, then 17, and friend Chris Collins, then 18, who are also black. "I looked at Donnell and he had this big old hole in his neck," Alexander recalls. "I tried to help him up, and they started shooting again." Herrington says he was staggering to his feet when a second shotgun blast struck him from behind; the spray of lead pellets also caught Collins and Alexander. The buckshot peppered Alexander's back, arm and buttocks........

A.C. Thompson: White vigilante justice tore through New Orleans after the storm. But no official investigation has shed light on the violence.

picture: CHANDRA MCCORMICK AND KEITH CALHOUN
A vigilante shot Donnell Herrington twice shortly after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans.

i wanted to avoid writing about gustav

i figure if i don't write about it, it won't happen. i know i know.

i cannot NOT mention this though. there is no reason, no how, no way, ANYONE from blackwater should be 'deployed' to the gulf coast. NEVER

Blackwater Preps for Hurricane Gustav

By Noah Shachtman
New Orleans is being evacuated once again, as Hurricane Gustav lumbers toward the Gulf Coast. Everyone from the U.S. military to the British Royal Navy to Blackwater is gearing up to respond.........

............But perhaps the most startling call for forces comes from Blackwater, the controversial prviate security contractor. The firm -- which famously patrolled New Orleans after Katrina -- is "compiling a list of qualified security personnel for possible deployment into areas affected by Hurricane Gustav," according to an e-mail obtained by R.J. Hillhouse.

They're looking for current sworn law enforcement officers, with "arrest powers" and "armed status (must indicate Armed and/or Semi Auto. Revolver only not accepted)." The firm is also looking for "current/active/licensed/registered armed security officer[s]," but "only from the following states: OR, WA, CA, NV, NM, AZ, TX, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, IL, OK."

Applicants "must be US citizens," the e-mail notes. "Contract length is TBD."................

their city got taken away

now you want to take away their customs? this is uneffingbelievable
Band on the run in New Orleans
Police have cracked down on funeral processions, a time-honored cultural tradition in the historic black neighborhood of Treme. But musicians vow to play on.
By Larry Blumenfeld
Oct. 29, 2007 NEW ORLEANS -- On the evening of Oct. 1, some two dozen of New Orleans' top brass-band players and roughly a hundred followers began a series of nightly processions for Kerwin James, a tuba player with the New Birth Brass Band who had passed away on Sept. 26. They were "bringing him down," as it's called, until his Saturday burial. But the bittersweet tradition that Monday night ended more bitterly than anything else -- with snare drummer Derrick Tabb and his brother, trombonist Glen David Andrews, led away in handcuffs after some 20 police cars had arrived near the corner of North Robertson and St. Philip streets in New Orleans' historic Tremé neighborhood. In the end, it looked more like the scene of a murder than misdemeanors.
"The police told us, 'If we hear one more note, we'll arrest the whole band,'" said Tabb a few days later, at a fundraiser to help defray the costs of James' burial. "Well, we did stop playing," said Andrews. "We were singing, lifting our voices to God. You gonna tell me that's wrong too?" Drummer Ellis Joseph of the Free Agents Brass band, who was also in the procession, said, "They came in a swarm, like we had AK-47s. But we only had instruments." .........

a big fat shout out to my friend lk

tyshawn and lk

mikey relaxin'

chris and gizmo

alli, tyshawn, katie and lk

alli, katie and lk

she just got back from a few days in new orleans. what was she doing you ask? sure, she went out and had fun during the evenings. during the day she was BUILDING HOUSES FOR HABITAT! that's so very wicked cool

how in the HELL could i have missed this?

talk about a slap in the face!

At Picnic, Bush Tells New Orleans Jazz Musician to ‘Pick Up Trash’ After Performance

Posted by Jon Ponder

At the annual congressional picnic yesterday, Pres. George Bush, addressing the crowd of 1,500, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, suggested that the African American musicians performing for the event should earn their keep after they performed:..........

this is right from the whitehouse website: (i'm NOT making this shite up. wish with all my might i was, but i'm not)

President and Mrs. Bush Host Congressional Picnic

THE PRESIDENT: Kermit Ruffins and the Barbeque Swingers, right out of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Applause.)
MR. RUFFINS: Thank you. Thanks for having us. We're glad to be here.
THE PRESIDENT: Proud you're here. Thanks for coming. You all enjoy yourself. Make sure you pick up all the trash after it's over. (Laughter.)

photo: neworleansmusiciansrelief.net/artists

a bush or two and a pump or two

put 'em together and what do you get?

Corps Asked to Explain Pump Contract

By CAIN BURDEAU
Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - When the Army Corps of Engineers solicited bids for drainage pumps for New Orleans, it copied the specifications - typos and all - from the catalog of the manufacturer that ultimately won the $32 million contract, a review of documents by The Associated Press found.
The pumps, supplied by Moving Water Industries Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla., and installed at canals before the start of the 2006 hurricane season, proved to be defective, as the AP reported in March. The matter is under investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
In a letter dated April 13, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., called on the Corps to look into how the politically connected company got the post-Hurricane Katrina contract. MWI employed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Bush's brother, to market its pumps during the 1980s, and top MWI officials have been major contributors to the Republican Party.
While it may not be a violation of federal regulations to adopt a company's technical specifications, it is frowned on, especially for large jobs like the MWI contract, because it could give the impression the job was rigged for the benefit of a certain company, contractors familiar with Corps practices say. ..............